The Stats Project, Volume 2: Tight Pin Ratio

If you ever get the chance when you go to a tour event, get a copy of the pin sheet. It'll tell you for each round how many paces on and from the side a certain pin is. It's measured in paces, but basically is yards. Often times, the pins are really tight when the money is made.

It's important to be able to measure how close a player gets relative to the pin position, not to the hole. Certain pins are more confusing or intimidating than others, so making a comparison of being six feet away from the hole isn't necessarily meaningful. Hence, a comparison against the pin and the field playing that specific pin might help.

Enter: Tight Pin Ratio

The idea is basically to perform a ratio comparison between the space around the pin - paces on and away - with the circle that would be drawn through the ball, centered around the pin.

Obviously, the closer the ratio is to zero is better because you are in a closer space. This stat doesn't account for whether a player goes long or short of the pin, but studies indicate that positioning does not traditionally matter. 

But being able to hit it close to the pin doesn't mean anything if you can't roll it. That's the whole point of this statistic. If a player can stick it close, but can't convert inside of 15 feet, then they won't win. Conversely, players that drain one or two bombs per week might just do enough to win a tournament. While those bombs are way more rare than fans root for, with proper timing, they can be huge game changers.

The idea with Tight Pin Ratio is to show who's putting it close AND on the putting surface. Coupled with other stats, we can build the profile of a complete player.